Attack on UPL is an attack on free speech

The attack on and forced closure of the University Press Limited’s (UPL) Banglabazar outlet is shocking and disturbing. It indicates the emboldening of groups who face no resistance when they decide to attack the premises of an organisation, a private individual, or even a publishing house. On Monday, two young men posing as customers went to the outlet asking for Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s “Oshomapto Attojiboni”, also published in English as “The Unfinished Memoirs”. When the book was produced, they started harassing the salespeople, objecting to the sale, claiming it to be banned—which it is not. Things escalated to a point where the two men forcefully took two UPL salespeople to a police outpost. The employees were later released. But the two unidentified men locked the outlet.

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Is violent crime being normalised?

The incident is reminiscent of the mob attacks during the interim government’s tenure on establishments, individuals or organisations assumed to be associated with or sympathetic to the AL regime. While the BNP government promised to bring an end to mob rule, such attacks and blatant intimidation tactics continue. The recent vicious attacks on Radda MCH-FP Centre in Mirpur-1, a content creator’s studio at ECB Chattar, a plot and an office in Mohammadpur, and a building in Adabor which the attackers tried to occupy calls into question the role of the police and their failure to prevent them. In most of these cases, there was wide-scale vandalism and looting; the Radda health centre was demolished with an excavator and police stood by while the vandals looted and destroyed the building.

UPL has said that although it has faced various forms of pressure from successive governments, it has consistently resisted them while upholding its professional standards and publishing principles. We expect that it will be allowed to continue to do so. An attack on a prestigious publication house as UPL is a direct attack on a publisher’s freedom to publish books and sets a dangerous precedent for a society where knowledge is valued and crucial for development. That these groups feel a sense of impunity to carry out such thuggery undeterred should be an embarrassment for the authorities.

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Police must act on evidence alone

We strongly condemn the attempts to stop sales of a book through such scare tactics. We also urge the government to give directives to the police that their role is to provide protection to people and property. The police reportedly released the two UPL employees on condition that they would stop selling the book, as demanded by the attackers. Siding with criminals who have the audacity to intimidate an establishment, force its closure, and take its employees out of their workplace are ominous signs. These actions don’t reflect the democratic principles that police are pledge-bound to uphold. The government must immediately take action against the attackers, provide adequate protection to UPL and its staff, and send out a clear message that such acts of hooliganism will be severely dealt with.